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MOTUC Q&A's From Around the Net (10/26/2012)

DO4M asks: Assuming that Management allows a Weapons Pack SKU, could Mattel make an official poll for fans to choose the items in it?

Matty: (Design would choose the colors for said items) It is possible but no plans at this time.

Marvelous One asks: Is there a way to include a spot inside Castle Grayskull where one could hang both Swords of Power and Protection crisscrossed like it was shown in the Filmation series? Maybe even include 2 new versions of the sword to look like their Filmation counterparts. Both sword being the same size?"

Matty: This is something we are looking into but we can’t confirm final details right now

Domingo.Hernandez71 asks: We've seen the Palace Guards, We've seen the Snake Guys, I'm pretty sure we'll see the Horde Troopers in the future. Is their any chance we could see an army for Skeletor?

Matty:Always possible but nothing to announce right now.

Jason.Lee.718 asks: Speaking of the snakemen, easy guess we may get these in different colors but I wonder about seeing something like a Coral snake pattern or diamondback with the snakemen troops and speaking of the coral snake, there is a non venomous version and the idea of a this one being made into a hero would be a neat twist. It sees the destruction done and has no stomach for it so vows to stop his brethern.

Matty:We'd love to do new versions of Snake Warriors in time. Nothing to announce right now however.

jayson.zachery asks: Is it true that the mini figures like Kowl, Loo Kee, and Imp cost as much to make as a normal sized figure? And if so, is there a better way to get them into the line? 3 packs? 2 pack? Singles?

Q: If the Castle Grayskull project goes through, do you intend to have the box art be done by Rudy Obrero so that it will be consistent with previous boxed releases?

A: Yes, we will ask Rudy if he will do this! (Editor’s note, they WILL be doing this as they announced today)

Q: Has a decision been reached on Snake Face’s staff being cut or not?

A: Yes,it will be included as noted at NYCC.

Q: With prices increasing, is there any chance future non sub items will be able to be ordered ahead of time and combined with sub shipments so we can save a little on shipping?
A: This is something we are looking into but nothing to confirm yet.

Q: Any new news on Mini Masters?

A: Not yet, we are still looking for a home for these guys.

Q: The green Clawful mace is my favorite part of the Great Unrest Weapons Pak, any chance of a slightly off-color Clawful release to go with it? Maybe with a 200x head?

Kastor’s Korner: Is there time for Octavia’s tentacles to be designed to be bendy? We’re grateful she won’t feature the foam materials from Snout Spout, but we have seen a better-designed bendy material utilized for King Hssss and Monster High’s Meowlody that seems like it would work perfectly for Octavia.

Mattel: There is time, but due to fans overwhelmingly not liking this feature on Snout Spout we won’t be repeating it.

Kastor’s Korner: At NYCC last year, it was stated new flight stands were being worked on. Is there any update on this plan, given it has been just about a year?

Mattel: Yes, we should have these to show at NYTF.

Kastor’s Korner: Given how well TOD Sorceress sold at Power Con, has there been any consideration to increase the size of future Convention tour exclusives, such as a themed multi-pack? While their Collector’s Clubs are obviously a different model than a major toy company, GI Joe Con and BotCon have both seen lots of success with Con exclusive multi-packs.

Mattel: Definitely something we will look into.

Kastor’s Korner: Much like the infamous Harley Quinn, recent figures such as Frosta and Uncle Sam seem to feature more grey than white on their light-colored parts. The next figure set to feature a lot of white deco is Netossa, but will she feature the same off-white coloring or actually be white?

If MOTUC Snake-Face’s staff gets cut, would Mattel be willing to sell it individually?

Toyguru: Possible, But it turns out it will not be cut.

Castle Grayskull being made is one of the best announcements Mattel has made all year regarding this line. Was this one of the special surprises you spoke of Scott when the 2013 subscription sold enough subs? Are there more surprises in store for us in 2013?

Toyguru: Actually no. It is not the surprise we have for NYTF. That is something else.

The MOTUC Battle Ram vehicle was only shown once back in 2010. Would Mattel be willing to show us the prototype again? Would it be possible for Mattel to bring this to New York Comic-Con?
Toyguru: No,we aren’t going to show an item that is not going forward. We don’t want to give false hope.

The small gift for MOTUC Frosta, is it an accessory for her or something else? Also just wanted to thank you personally and Mattel for doing this. It’s a very nice genture and much appreciated.

Toyguru: We don’t know at this point. We are still costing out items.

Do you think we will ever see more multipacks like the Legion Of Superheroes sold on Mattycollector?

Toyguru: Highly unlikely due to the huge amount of work needed for something like this.

Why Sorceress chose Man-at-Arms to raise her clone? Was this choice the way Man-at-Arms knew that Castle Grayskull really existed and wasn't only a legend? Or he already belonged to a Grayskull protector's order.

The Sorceress knew Duncan very well and trusted him.

To optimize the $200.ºº - $250.ºº that the Castle Grayskull approximately will cost and use all the budget in details and a great sculpt of the Castle, it would be great that you could release all the accessories that came with the vintage castle as an article outside the sub, like you did with the Weapons Rack.

That is a cool idea but no plans right now.

When Blast-Attak gets a release date, will he have the Snake Men logo on his chest?

We don't have plans for him right now so you'll have to wait and see!

A new faction/era has been introduced; "He-Ro, the Son of He-Man", do you think it will be one more era for the bios only? Or do we have a chance to get more than one M.o.t.U.C. figure from that era in the future?

Anything is possible, but no plans to announce right now.

Toyguru, we have seen apparently some contradictions between the bios and the 3rd. mini comic content, please, if you can clarify in each case which version must prevail as an official M.o.t.U.C. story

We didn't have enough room in 12 pages to show everything that happened in this battle. Many things happened between pages and even between panels! We had to pick and choose what events to show with the limited page count we had. As for Mekaneck, see the very first line of the intro title page copy from issue 1 for an explanation! (as well as the comic book for the last unfinished episode of the 200X series!)

1. After the fast sell-out of the Snakemen 2-pack could you imagine going back into production on this set and just change the colour scheme of the two figures? This would make an awesome out-of-sub item to help get some more tooling dollars in and would surely sell well, just don't produce as many as the first set!

Definitely not. We tried going back into production and doing second runs and the only figure that came even close to selling well was He-Man. While there are many fans online asking for this, the reality of it is the actual customer base is just not there. A few people asking over and over online does not wind up actualizing into sales that justify production.

2. You tried to save on costs by using black plastic, but that kind of backfired. Now the figures are pressed very tight into their packaging. Could you imagine reducing the rubber bands or simply just quit them? In the past they sometimes even did damage to some figures (first Grayskul . It would save at least a little bit and every dollar saved is good for the line, is it?

We are always looking into new ways to improve figures.

3. You told us that Castle Grayskull will be 200$, maybe a little bit more. Can you tell us also something about shipping costs, so international customers can calculate how much it will cost after taxes in the end? (Frage wurde bereits Ende September gestellt, daher nicht aktuel

No, we do not have this info right now. But assume it will be a very big box and shipping will be significant.

4. Fans have spoken a lot about what they want and we finally are getting the 200x Keldor swords and MAA arm cannon. But what about including 200x heads? Are they still off the table?

The weapons you are referring to are 200X weapons but "Classicized". When you classicize He-Man's 200X head you get the current He-Man head! So we already did this.

5. A question for Terry Higuchi: Do you have an idea, what Cy-Chop's head looked like before his "accident" and if so, will you convince Scott to include an alternate head for your guy with an upcoming figure?

Terry has mentioned due to fan requests he is working on an illustration of Cy-Chop in his pre transformation mode. No word at this time on a figure based on this.

MOTUClassics.Com Asks: For Toy Guru: What “concept” figure are you most bummed about having to cut out of the road map?

Scott Neitlich: It is just too hard to make a call on this since we don’t know how many or few slots we will have next year. Ideally I hope to get to everyone on the original roadmap and more in time. But we will prioritize vintage and important animated figures for 2014.

MOTUClassics.Com Asks: The “He-Ro, Son of He-Man” faction sticker is cool, but with the current state of the line is there a chance we’ll ever see it used again after King He-Man? Should the sticker give us some collectors hope for that faction to grow despite the change to the roadmap?

Anything is possible. We’ll have to see how many skus we get in 2014.

MOTUClassics.Com Asks: If the Pre-Order goes through, does the Castle’s robot/armor have increased chances of getting made? It’s time to move beyond the sticker!

We can’t do the Robot as a figure (with the castle) but are looking into possible ways to include him. Nothing to confirm but it is on our “want” list if we can get it in somehow.

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The sites listed below are the sites who want to participate in the Q&A round-up in these threads and on the He-Man.org homepage news entry.
Be sure to check out their sites! There's a lot there to see in addition to the Q&As.

All other sites haven't gotten back to us yet about participating, or have asked not to be included which we completely understand and respect.
So, please do not post the actual questions and answers from any site not listed above.
But you are welcome to post a direct link to their Q&A, and discuss the info here in this thread.

Kastor’s Korner: Is there time for Octavia’s tentacles to be designed to be bendy? We’re grateful she won’t feature the foam materials from Snout Spout, but we have seen a better-designed bendy material utilized for King Hssss and Monster High’s Meowlody that seems like it would work perfectly for Octavia.

Mattel: There is time, but due to fans overwhelmingly not liking this feature on Snout Spout we won’t be repeating it.

A wise decision, listening to the fans

"A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

Scott did say that Octavia's tentacles would not be bendy back at SDCC. kind of sucks, I don't think anyone said they don't want them to be like pipe cleaners, they said they don't want a flexible item with rotten foam....a huge difference, but I forgot, Mattel often forgets how to make toys correctly, or is it, that Ruben will not be able to come up with a flxible rubber material that bends....of wait....we do have such a material....it's used in some loin cloths, skirts and capes....and it doesn't rip, shred or rot....hmmmm.

Not to mention, old Mattel Barbie dolls had flexible rubber / plastic skin over an endoskelton that was posable....and they still exist today....but Mattel is such a big toy company why exactly, oh wait, they built their biggest reputation back in the 60's and here in the 2010's....they forget how to do the simplest things to make toys last 40 years plus. If Mattel were to come to market just today, they'd have a hell of a time making it in the toy industry. They've forgotten or abandoned more than any of us will ever know about toys, and play stupid, I mean hell they can't even do vac metal right anymore, but to be fair, even Hasbro apparently forgot how to do something the car industry does perfectly everyday, and their vac metal parts take weather....even though today some things are done differently by actually chrome plating the plastic instead of vac metallizing.

Originally Posted by Weasel

Q: The green Clawful mace is my favorite part of the Great Unrest Weapons Pak, any chance of a slightly off-color Clawful release to go with it? Maybe with a 200x head?

okay am I missing something here? I have no idea why this was even added to the pack. Its slightly lighter and has some highlights, but I still think the one that came with clawful looks better.

Really? My favorite pieces were the Draego Man stuff....not some slightly off color repop of an already existing weapon....

Originally Posted by retcon

I assume that question was submitted by Mattels design guy. Rueben is it?

This I would agree with, whole heartedly. Who in their right mind would ask that lame ass question....I guess if not, there is one supreme Clawful loving fan out there, who doesn't possess Draego, Keldor, SMAA or Horde Prime....not to mention the blue Teela shield is a much nicer addition than that mace.

Next we will get a figure without shoulders because fans overwhelming don't like those either as it turns out.

We need to let our new friends at Super 7 know that many of us are ALL IN COLLECTORS. We don't want products that are impossible for the average collector to have access to! If there is a He-man product, I want to buy it. Please no chases or con-only exclusives.

Fans aren't opposed to Snout Spouts trunk being bendable, we are opposed to it deteriorating due to comically inferior materials used. Get your head out of your tail pipe Mattel.

Yeah, this exactly. The question even stated what did work and fans are not complaining about it. That answer totally ****** me off that he could be so freakin' ignorant to say something like that to a group of adults that know better. Can I have chocolate milk, no you didnt like orange juice. Completely stupid.

Yeah, this exactly. The question even stated what did work and fans are not complaining about it. That answer totally ****** me off that he could be so freakin' ignorant to say something like that to a group of adults that know better. Can I have chocolate milk, no you didnt like orange juice. Completely stupid.

It's things like this that cause me to lose all respect for the people behind this line, other than the horsemen. Mistakes are one thing, but refusing to acknowledge that mistake for such a long time, and then eventually turning around and knowingly misrepresent the problem to the very fans that had the problem is just plain insulting.

Let's play a drinking game. Everyone take a shot when they said nothing to announce right now or something like that.

BTW, they are costing out the free gift for Frosta's screw up?

Umm yes??? It is free to subscribers, but will still cost Mattel money to produce. So Mattel is deciding what they can afford for a free gift and make it somewhat worthwhile, seems pretty logical to me?

Kastor’s Korner: Is there time for Octavia’s tentacles to be designed to be bendy? We’re grateful she won’t feature the foam materials from Snout Spout, but we have seen a better-designed bendy material utilized for King Hssss and Monster High’s Meowlody that seems like it would work perfectly for Octavia.

Mattel: There is time, but due to fans overwhelmingly not liking this feature on Snout Spout we won’t be repeating it.

Uuuuuugghh....OMG. Gotta massage my forehead here...can't understand how they keep glossing over select words. Alright, I'll rewrite the question; this is how we need to do it I guess.

"Would it be possible to make Octavia's tentacles to be bendy like King Hsss? Absolute no fan has complained about Snout Spout's bendy trunk; they complained about the foam material used to make his trunk. The FOAM MATERIAL. I'll repeat it again: Snout Spout's trunk was made with a FOAM MATERIAL that we are against. We are against this foam material. There was a rubber material used on King Hsss. Can that be used on Octavia? I repeat once again: Fans WERE NOT displeased with Snout Spout's trunk bending - it was the FOAM MATERIAL that the trunk was constructed with. Can you use the rubber material from King Hsss' snake form?"

"Since you got here by not thinking, it seems reasonable to expect that, in order to get out, you must start thinking." ~ Tock, the Watchdog

Alexx has a blog?! Come on in and check out Toys and Tomfoolery! You won't regret it...until the next morning.

Uuuuuugghh....OMG. Gotta massage my forehead here...can't understand how they keep glossing over select words. Alright, I'll rewrite the question; this is how we need to do it I guess.

"Would it be possible to make Octavia's tentacles to be bendy like King Hsss? Absolute no fan has complained about Snout Spout's bendy trunk; they complained about the foam material used to make his trunk. The FOAM MATERIAL. I'll repeat it again: Snout Spout's trunk was made with a FOAM MATERIAL that we are against. We are against this foam material. There was a rubber material used on King Hsss. Can that be used on Octavia? I repeat once again: Fans WERE NOT displeased with Snout Spout's trunk bending - it was the FOAM MATERIAL that the trunk was constructed with. Can you use the rubber material from King Hsss' snake form?"

What are you talkin about? The fans didn´t like Snout Spouts bending trunk?

Uuuuuugghh....OMG. Gotta massage my forehead here...can't understand how they keep glossing over select words. Alright, I'll rewrite the question; this is how we need to do it I guess.

"Would it be possible to make Octavia's tentacles to be bendy like King Hsss? Absolute no fan has complained about Snout Spout's bendy trunk; they complained about the foam material used to make his trunk. The FOAM MATERIAL. I'll repeat it again: Snout Spout's trunk was made with a FOAM MATERIAL that we are against. We are against this foam material. There was a rubber material used on King Hsss. Can that be used on Octavia? I repeat once again: Fans WERE NOT displeased with Snout Spout's trunk bending - it was the FOAM MATERIAL that the trunk was constructed with. Can you use the rubber material from King Hsss' snake form?"